The invention relates to a tennis ball retriever and a system for retrieving and storing tennis balls.
Various devices for retrieving tennis balls have been developed in the past. U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,749 discloses a tennis ball retriever having a handle in the form of a yoke and a pair of ground engaging rings interconnected by spaced bars to form a collection drum. A hinged gate provides access to the tennis balls picked up through the spaced bars when rolling the ground engaging rings along the ground. A Y-shaped handle is provided to facilitate the use of the tennis ball retriever. The Y-shaped handle is also used as a stand for the tennis ball retriever.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,449 discloses a tennis ball retriever having a handle in the form of a yoke and a pair of ground engaging rings interconnected by spaced bars to form a collection drum. One of the bars is removable to provide access to the tennis balls which have been picked up by rolling the rings along the ground.
A further tennis ball retriever is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,242. A cylindrical collection drum has a plurality of circumferential tines axially spaced apart by a dimension just less than the diameter of a tennis ball. At least one of the circumferential tines has an abrasive surface for engaging the tennis ball and urging it between an axially spaced-apart pair of the circumferential tines and into the collection drum.
A disadvantage of these tennis ball retrievers is that it is time-consuming to pick up a large number of tennis balls, because every time the collection drum is filled with tennis balls, the tennis balls have to be removed from the collection drum before further tennis balls can be picked up.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a ball retriever which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known ball retrievers of this general type and which allows to quickly pick up large numbers of balls and store them.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a ball retriever, including:
a cylindrical collection drum having circular cylinder bases spaced from one another, the cylindrical collection drum defining a cylinder axis, the circular cylinder bases extending perpendicular to the cylinder axis and having respective circumferential edges defining a peripheral cylinder region extending between the circumferential edges of the circular cylinder bases;
the cylindrical collection drum having openings formed in the peripheral cylinder region, the openings being dimensioned such that balls can be pushed therethrough; the circular cylinder bases having sleeves extending along the cylinder axis;
a removable handle including two arms extending away from the cylinder axis, the arms having respective end regions and stub axles at the end regions, the stub axles extending along the cylinder axis and being rotatably journalled in the sleeves; and
the removable handle being resiliently deformable for moving the stub axles away from the sleeves.
According to the invention, the handle is removable from the collection drum and thus the collection drum can be easily replaced. When collecting tennis balls, it is not necessary to empty out the filled collection drum before further balls can be collected. The full collection drum can be replaced with an empty drum and further balls can be collected.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the cylindrical collection drum has bars disposed in the peripheral cylinder region; the bars extend parallel to the cylinder axis and are spaced from one another for forming the openings.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, at least one of the bars is a removable bar with a threaded end region. This allows to open the collection drum by unscrewing and removing the bar.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, at least one tubular bar holder is attached to one of the arms for holding the removable bar.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, at least one of the bars is hingedly connected at one of the circumferential edges in order to facilitate opening the collection drum.
In accordance with yet a further feature of the invention, one of the bars is hingedly connected at one of the circumferential edges, and a further one of the bars adjacent the one of the bars is hingedly connected at another one of the circumferential edges. Thus, a sufficiently large opening for emptying out the tennis balls is provided.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, each of the circular cylinder bases includes a first ring and a second ring; the first ring is an outermost ring and is disposed concentric with respect to the second ring. A plurality of bent bars each has a V-shape; each of the bent bars has a first end attached to the first ring or the second ring, a second end attached to the first ring or the second ring and a bend region disposed close to the cylinder axis. This allows to manufacture the circular cylinder bases in a cost effective manner with only a few parts.
In order to further reduce manufacturing costs, the circular cylinder bases are molded plastic discs, and the bars have respective ends fixed to the molded plastic discs. The bars may preferably be glued to the molded plastic discs.
In accordance with yet a further feature of the invention, each of the circular cylinder bases includes a plurality of concentric rings, and radially extending bars attached to the concentric rings.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the circular cylinder bases include rings extending along the peripheral edges, and an elastic material, such as a rubber material or a plastic, covers the rings. The elastic material prevents markings on the surface of the tennis court when the collection drum is rolled on the ground. The elastic material also absorbs shocks and improves traction when the collection drum is rolled on the ground.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, the arms are telescoping arms. The telescoping arms allow adjusting the height of the handle for people of different height. When the handle is used as a stand, the collection drum can be positioned at a height which is convenient for emptying the tennis balls from the collection drum. When the telescoping arms are shortened, a user may carry the ball retriever by carrying the handle over his or her shoulder.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the arms are Y-shaped arms and the handle includes two handle bars extending parallel to the cylinder axis; the handle bars connect the Y-shaped arms. This handle configuration allows using the handle as a stand.
With the objects of the invention in view there is also provided, a ball retrieving and storing system, including:
a cylindrical collection drum having circular cylinder bases spaced from one another, the cylindrical collection drum defining a cylinder axis, the circular cylinder bases extending perpendicular to the cylinder axis and having respective circumferential edges defining a peripheral cylinder region extending between the circumferential edges of the circular cylinder bases;
the cylindrical collection drum having openings formed in the peripheral cylinder region, the openings being dimensioned such that balls can be pushed therethrough;
the circular cylinder bases having sleeves extending along the cylinder axis;
a removable handle including two arms extending away from the cylinder axis, the arms having respective end regions and stub axles at the end regions, the stub axles extending along the cylinder axis and being rotatably journalled in the sleeves;
the removable handle being resiliently deformable for moving the stub axles away from the sleeves for removing the cylindrical collection drum from the handle; and
a further cylindrical collection drum substantially identical to the cylindrical collection drum for exchanging the cylindrical collection drum with the further cylindrical collection drum.
Using a handle together with a number of collection drums allows not only to quickly pick up a large number of tennis balls but also allows to conveniently store the tennis balls in the collection drums. It is no longer necessary to transfer the tennis balls from the collection drum into a separate storage container. The collection drum preferably has a holding capacity of between 40 and 150 tennis balls. This provides a sufficient collecting capacity without making the collection drum too big and heavy to handle. Because of the expandable storage option due to replaceable collection drums, a collection drum capacity of between 60 and 100 tennis balls is preferred.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a ball retrieving and storing system, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.